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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Throw another bacon rasher on the barbie

I have a problem with a bubble wrapped world, and it is not because kids will never learn from mistakes. I think bloggers of the past have covered this comprehensively and we are beyond that now. Just like observational jokes about shopping trolleys, toilet seat wars, and airplane food are overused.

My sadness from bubble wrapping the world in particular stems from the fact that there are no mad scientists left in the world. Where are the mad schemes playing out in sheds and pushing the boundaries in science and engineering? Where has the spirit of invention gone? It has all but left. Or has it?

Theodore Gray recently "committed [himself] to the goal, before the weekend was out, of creating a device entirely from bacon and using it to cut a steel pan in half".

Why? Who cares! That's why!

The Mr Gray wasn’t getting results, talked to the chef, and then added a side serve (read: nozzle) of vegetables. Now he has a nutritiously balanced blow torch that can be served in schools under health kicks.

How awesome is that? A couple bits of prosciutto, some cucumber, pure oxygen and you have a thermal lance that can cut through steel pans. What drives a man to try a project like that? I bet it was medicinal.

MacGyver never made anything that cool, but the airplane out of a cement mixer is close.